Not to be taken lightly, I have found a bunch of weevils in my quinoa, after I'd poured it into water to rinse and cook. Aside from the loss of appetite, I also panicked to figure out a way to remedy this. It's been a while and I've found them crawling throughout the closet and this morning, one was crawling up the wall where the cabinet isn't flush against the corner. I am FREAKING OUT. I told my boyfriend and he was just not phased by it. He would be if it was in his food, I'm certain of it. How do I fix this? Also, I needed this thread to be open in case I find a mega amount of them somewhere, I have somewhere to turn when I run from the kitchen in a frenzy. I am terrified of bugs and hate to hurt them so I need your thoughts on what to do. There have already been a few I've had to wipe away and in the process killed. Please help me!

I've had to dump my pantry a couple times over the past few years due to infestations of various bugs. I have nothing to offer on getting rid of the weevils except my sympathy because I confess that if bugs are in my kitchen, I usually kill them. (Spiders and mosquito hawks excepted).

I keep all of my grains and things in jars now and that has mitigated my ingredient losses.

bcakes, any flours we bought recently have been either kept in the cupboard below if they're unopened, or in the freezer once they are. I ought to buy some more containers for them too! Such a smart idea that I thought was only pretty and decorative (but was admittedly unsure of the benefits of). Cool!

Moths?!...

Frankly, I'm scared. Internets say they're harmless (thankfully) but they were almost in my food. I just bought alot of canned stuff and spices and that's the gist of what remains in that closet. I need reinforcements to come and help though. I'm TERRIFIED. What if they get ON ME. What if they CRAWL INTO MY EARS. I HAVE BEEN WATCHING TOO MUCH OF THE MORE OBSCURE YOUTUBE.

Last edited by fauxfrancais on Mon Aug 20, 2012 12:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I am going to have to google weevils, but I posted a bit ago about losing my pantry to moths. I totally lost my appetite and made my husband go out and buy us dinner, cause I wasn't cooking after that. I cleared out my pantry of anything bagged and threw it away. Washed down all the shelves and walls. Then everything like rice, pasta, and grains went in air tight containers. Or I double bag with ziplocks if I run out of containers. It took about 2 weeks of killing those moths on the ceiling and walls before I believe I got all of them. Good thing I threw out most of the bagged stuff before them baby moths came out of their cocoons.

That sucks hard. I had weevils in one of the places I used to live, and it's not fun. First of all, are you sure they're weevils and not cockroaches?

Anyway, to get rid of them: Assuming they are weevils, what I would probably do is toss any open grains/flours that haven't been stored in jars/superduperairtight containers. When I say "toss" I mean bag it up and take it out to the trash immediately, because otherwise they will crawl back into your cabinets. Sucks, but if stuff is opened/just tied up with a rubber band or something, they're probably already in there. Then remove all the stuff that IS sealed up and inspect it carefully for unwanted weevil pals. Then thoroughly clean out the affected cabinets with soap and water. I've heard that certain essential oils (like eucalyptus) may repel them, as well as bay leaf, but I dunno if it really works. I'm not really sure how you'll be able to clean out the pantry without the possibility of squishing a few or cleaning up some dead ones, so this might be a good time to get your boyfriend or a friend to help. Once your cabinet has been cleaned/aired out put the uncontaminated stuff back in. It's important to give it a really thorough clean so you not only get rid of the insects, but also any pesky egg cases that might be hiding out. :/

When you bring home new flour and stuff in the future it's a good idea to put it in the freezer for a few days first, because if there are any unwanted stowaways (this is often how the weevils get in in the first place) it will kill them. And always, always, always keep it in the pantry in sealed containers. Like sealed up right tight, because they can get in through tiny cracks. Unfortunately I had to throw out a bunch of nuts and dried fruit this week because I left a tupperware open a tiiiiiiny crack and about 8 million ants got in.

Joined: Fri Apr 01, 2011 11:51 amPosts: 8120Location: United States of New England

im not sure what type of bug infested my cabinets but i had to throw out a bunch of rice and flower once because some sort of gross bug was in it. then i moved all my flours and my brown rice into the fridge which is a real pain in the butt considering how many different types of flour i have accumlated. i have so much crepe in my fridge cause3 i cant keep it in the cupboard. so annoying.

we were told not to just through the infected grain/flour out but to do it in a reseptacle outside of your house. so basically throwing out the flour with the bugs in your kitchen trash is not going to help anything. you need to get it out of your house :-(

thankfully we have had no issues since.i also keep all my white sugar in the fridge so ants dont eat it. my brown sugar is in a tupperware container in the cabinet and that has been fine so far.

I'm going to get Eucalyptus oil, which thankfully smells nice and isn't costly, and put that in the cabinets. Problem is these cabinets are designed pretty strangely so they bend where it'll be hard to reach around and get to the end which we don't even use but I'm sure they still are. I took any new flours and put them in the freezer. My boyfriend was confused since our freezer is so tiny but I had to. One site said to sanitize the ledges on the counters, the cracks in between, the doors, outside the cabinets, etc. I just did that a few weeks ago before I realized I had them. Most of the old stuff is thrown away already, thankfully.

Is it good that we have them? Is it an indicator that we're eating healthy, unprocessed foods? I'm going to look at it like I did with the bug I found in my farmer's market kale and just be thankful if they want to eat it, we can assume it's safe.

That is what I think, at least we have healthy food, even if there is bugs in it. He he he.

I found with the moths that after I had all my new foods in containers, I didn't feel so bad finding them because at least they were not in my food. Took a few weeks of killing the moths I couldn't find during my initial cleaning. My shelves did not come out of the pantry so I couldn't really clean in all the nooks and crannies. After a few weeks I didn't find them anymore.

Is it good that we have them? Is it an indicator that we're eating healthy, unprocessed foods? I'm going to look at it like I did with the bug I found in my farmer's market kale and just be thankful if they want to eat it, we can assume it's safe.

Unfortunately they are not that discriminating. Once my brother made himself a big bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and milk, and was about to eat when he saw all the weevils swimming around in the milk. So yes, they like junky cereal too.

i've had them before. i currently have moths and one time i opened a tin of paprika to find a bunch of little paprika monsters (no idea what they were) living independently in darkness in a little paprika colony.

they won't hurt you. they're just bugs that eat flour. it's not like an eggsack of black widows hatched on your face or anything (did that just make it worse?)

i've never really been a bug squisher, but i used to not like bugs until i saw the bbc life in the undergrowth documentaries. made me not afraid of bugs and i actually really like and respect them now. that's not to say when i find moth larvae in my pantry that i don't take the opportunity to give my fish a yummy treat though...but i love my fish more than i love bugs in my pantry.

i really recommend that everyone who is afraid of bugs watch those docs and you will see bugs in a totally different way.

honestly i'd have just poured them out with the quinoa water and kept rinsing and cooked the quinoa. if it's going to be boiled, i don't really see a problem. with flour, just sift. i know some people are probably repulsed by that, but you most definitely consume bugs, bug poo and many other unsavory things on a regular basis without even knowing it. there's even a legal limit (that is not zero) of bugs that can be in grains that are made into cereal, and probably everything else.

I hear you on being grossed out. I found moths in my rice and cornmeal last night, and the pinto beans. They were all in airtight glass jars, just like everything else in my kitchen that has been opened. That did not stop them at all. I hope everything else is alright, as I'm only throwing stuff out as I see moths in it, so there may be more suprises to come. I was pouring cornmeal onto a pan when baking pizza and moths came out... and if that wasn't gross enough when I was putting pinto beans into the crockpot last night there were eggs in there and moths flying out. After getting that stuff cleaned out I put pieces of ceader and ceader shavings in the cabnient, maybe that will help? Good luck to you with the weevils.

Oh no, and you are from Michigan, I think they are coming in from outside. I swear they are the same moths that are swarming my lights outside when I let my dogs out. Husband and I go into combat mode after we let dogs out, trying to eliminate those yucky moths that come in. I have never noticed them before this year. Looking at pictures online they may not be the same as the pantry ones though. Oh well.

Looking up natural repellants online show certain essential oils you can put in your pantrys for stuff like this. Also dried herbs are repellents too. Apparently bay leaves in the pantry will repel moths and weevils.

Guys, I did it. Not only did I get up and want to make cinnamon rolls (don't worry, all of the flours are new and have been kept in the freezer) and got frustrated when I saw one, I cleaned almost the entire kitchen until it was spotless. I missed two drawers, one with one container (sealed) of old flour that I need to chuck and clean the rest, but boy oh boy, I threw out alot of stuff! Mostly things we kept for "just in case" but hardly ever even use. The kitchen feels, looks and smells good. I need to get the bay leaves to put inside, but wonder, do I just hang them by scotch tape? Is using the oil more effective? I am so tired now.

By the way, mid way I wanted to come on here and post about it but I knew I wouldn't go back. I'm glad I just finished and did this now when it's (almost) done. Just two more cabinets to go, but one is just the baking sheet closet. The cleaner was lemon scented but I really wish it would smell like eucalyptus instead, to also act as a deterrent. It was not as bad as I thought.

I always thought weevils were the disgusting little wormy white grubs that are the larva of pantry moths, but when you google "weevil" you get a ton of pics of those little brown pantry beetles, & their larvae are shorter & fatter than the pantry moth ones. My friend had those in his pantry & the grossest thing we found when I helped him clean it out, was a packet of pappadums, that had been drilled full of tiny holes by those beetles. Yuck!

I have a problem with the moths & I *hate* those gross little grubs with the black speck on the end. Urgh! I cleaned out my pantry & threw *so* much stuff away. Now I just keep jars & cans in there & any flour, legumes, etc are in supposedly weevil-proof containers with the rubber seal & snap closure or in the freezer.

I don't think there's such a thing as a weevil-proof container though... I had a bottle of liquid smoke with a shallow, flip-top lid that was *so* tightly sealed I had to flip it open with the tip of a knife - it was like Fort Knox. When I had the moth infestation, I opened the lid & somehow, one of the grubs had wormed its way in & tried to spin a disgusting web, but the space was too small & it died in there (& there was no food supply for it in there anyway!) If those things can get in a gap that small, they can get in anywhere.

i'm battling a moth infestation too. it looks like mine might only be interested in corn products. i had cornmeal in one of those anchor hocking square glass containers, and i finally found the major source of the infestation. i threw that away, and i had already frozen my popping corn

it's really weird. we've had a few moths here and there for the past year or so, so it wasn't too big of a deal. the traps were catching them, so that was good. then 3 weeks ago, we purchased that popping corn from "country junction" the biggest general store or something. i put them in the pantry for a few days, and then when i went to pick the bags up to put the corn into jars, the thin flimsy plastic bags had holes eaten in them! i sifted the corn and put them into jars and in the freezer. then a few days after that, the explosion came. i hope these guys only like corn.

i've been squishing dozens of them each day, and just tonight, i squished 2 mating pairs. 2-for-1! woot!

Moths! We used to get them in the kitchen all the time but I don't think we ever had pantry moths, but that would explain why my mom would periodically clean out the cabinets if so. EEK! If I saw things were bitten through I would be really upset. Fortunately I don't think anything has been. KNOCK ON WOOD, 1 more cabinet to check...

How do they do it in commercial kitchens? I'd imagine they don't have freezer space for 50 lb bags of flour, and they probably order what they want to use up seemingly right away.

Your friend had weevils eat through his pantry stuff? Yikes, that would send me into take-out frenzy!

they're slowing down *fingers crossed* i squished 3 this morning, and saw 2 on the wall above the fridge and swiped them with the broom, but they went fluttering away, and i didn't see where they went. if those are the last 2, i'd be ecstatic!